The Trib is reporting that Chicago has been left in the dust as a potential host city for the 2016 summer Olympics.
Apparently, the full-court press by President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Richard Daley fell short, with the Second City eliminated in the first round of voting. That leaves Rio de Janeiro and Madrid still in contention. Tokyo was eliminated in second-round voting by the International Olympic Committee.
The loss of the Olympics is surely a disappointment to Downers Grove and every other suburb that would have stood to gain hotel and motel, restaurant and other business from the Olympic throngs.
How disappointed are you? Were you hoping for a windfall or just looking forward to attending the games in person?
It’s 16 days in 2016 that we are talking about people. It would have been nice to see the games up close and personal. I for one am not going to shed a tear though. That is life, you win some and lose some. If Daley and his city could have produced a better product from a city stand point maybe the IOC would have chosen them. Just shows you the corruption and graft don’t make a good product. Chicago has one of the highest crime rates in the country. Chicago is a great city but they have too many pitfalls to be a great international city!! Most of the money to support the Olympics would have come from tax payers and TIF districts. So don’t shed too many tears about this the business‘s and people of the city get to keep their tax money…for now!
I think the potential windfall of lodging and restaurant spending was overstated.
I went to the Atlanta games, and many hotels were well under full occupancy, particularly mid and lower-priced hotels. Considering the number of visitors from outside the region, hotels were saying that they had fewer guests than when a large convention or trade show was taking all of the space in the Georgia World Congress Center.
My theory is that many people decided to stay with friends or relatives. My wife and I stayed with her parents. All of my friends in Chicago who went to Atlanta stayed with friends or relatives.
If New York had gotten the 2012 Olympics, we were going to stay with friends in CT.
The restaurants were complaining, too. It seems that spectators were either not eating, eating only at restaurants right by the venues, or eating at national chains. Meanwhile, the locals had either left town or staying home, thinking that there were crowds to avoid.
We went to a restaurant called the Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, which was about 15 minutes from the equistrian venue. It draws from all over metro Atlanta the way the White Fence Farm draws from all over Chicago.
Apparently, there was never a wait for a table during the Games, becasue spectators weren’t venturing to restaurants away from venues, and the regulars were staying away. Under normal circumstances, it’s common to wait 20 minutes for a table at lunch and up to 45 minutes for a table at dinner.
Remember that the only two venues outside the Chicago city limits were road and mountain biking in Madison, WI and equistrean in the far north suburbs. An Olympic spectator wouldn’t have any reason to come out to this part of Chicagoland.
As a homeowner and landlord in Chicago the decision is very disappointing, but not altogether unexpected. The chance to plant the Olympic flag in a new country was simply to good an opportunity for the IOC to pass up.
What I’m bracing myself for is the inevitable backlash against the politicians (Daley, Obama, Oprah) from the ditto-heads and the scared old people whose TVs are permanently tuned into Fox. They’ll turn this into yet another political rant to fire up the base, and never stop and consider the opportunity lost belonged to ALL of us.
I for one am glad to see Daley, Obama and Oprah knocked down a notch…It was much needed!!
The people I feel sorry for are all the trades people who would have benefited from the work the Olympics would have provided for the next 6 or 7 years. Of course the trades based in Chicago most likely would have gotten first dibs on the jobs but I am sure the suburban contractors would have received a nice amount of business from the games.
Not terribly disappointed. The hoopla of the 16 days could have been exciting and expected infrastructure improvements may have been good but at what cost? My concern is that with so much corruption in IL with its epicenter in Chicago, that the potential for budget shortfalls with us picking up the tab was high. The taxpayers in IL won’t be at risk for that now.
This does raise a larger and interesting question for Daley. What now without a $5 billion honeypot to fund projects. You can only throw so much furniture into the fireplace (asset sales) to keep warm in the winter before the house is empty.
Chad, not a fan of the trades, so I don’t feel sorry for them that they missed out on fat contracts. Heard way too many of them ready to hold the Olympic date over the city and “negotiate” for a king’s ransom.
I think this is more a statement of the USOC and not Chicago as a city or their bid package. The USOC takes a self-righteous attitude and stance on many IOC issues. It rubs the IOC members the wrong way and that is what really cost Chicago a better vote tally at least.
It was funny to listen to all of the South side alderwomen that, without fail, said they were disappointed. They kept talking about how their schools and local business development would benefit from it. Here’s an idea…let;s focus on a better home life with good parental role models. Stop the senseless teen beatings on corners. That might have played a small, small part.
Also, Chad, Rio de Janeiro is extremely dangerous. When I travel on business there, my company demands that I have security detail from the minute I step of the plane to the minute I step back on. 24 hours. Not self important, just dangerous. Can’t wait for the World Cup and Olympics in that environment.
Good point about Rio’s crime rate dgombudsman. Thing is I don’t live just 20 miles from Rio!
Losing out to RIO hurts, it’s a far more dangerous city than Chicago. I was however not a supporter of the games comming to Chicago. While it would have been nice to attend, I would rather not have experienced the increased coruption, crowds and crime. I don’t think DG stood to benefit greatly from having the games come to Chicago. My Olympic Mayor Daley (from the Trib) is weeping.
This is certainly a blow to big union and political corruption in Chicago and state…. Money only makes the two more out of control.
Now Daley has to go back to the drawing board and figure out how he can attract the Private sector to one of the Highest taxed state’s, County’s and City’s in the country. Not an easy task in this economy.
Daley has his comeuppance. Excellent.
However, I don’t feel a bit aggrieved that hotels. etc., will lose money. Hell, I’m not pulling enough of a paycheck to get by.
What is it with caring about the corporations while the working folks are struggling to pay the bills?
I do feel sorry for the tradesmen. They aren’t the ones who get rich off of fat contracts. A lot of them need this work, ask anyone in trades right now.
I offer a big Thank You to the Olympic Committee for saving the taxpayers Billions of Dollars, Chicago and the State of Illinois, and the United States. All three levels of Government are BROKE and would issue Taxpayer IOU’S to be paid by my kids and grandchildren for years to come.
I feel fortunate that the Brazilians are on the Hook.
Valerie Jarrett and the other Chicago and White House Slumlords were the only ones to benefit, Not the Citizens of Illinois, and the United States. We are Broke don’t people understand, you stop spending when you are broke.
Personally, I thought it was all a big hustle. A small handful of already wealthy insiders were going to get wealthier at the public’s expense. The poor and middle class taxpayers would have been stuck with the bill. Ticket prices would have been so high that only the wealthy could afford to go. Local public support for the games was tepid. I thought that was the reason for failure.